The Law Of Society

It is invalid and undemocratic:

• for a committee or an assembly to be empowered to draft the law of society.
• for the law of society to be abrogated or amended by individual, a committee, or an assembly.

The natural law of any society is grounded in either tradition (custom) or religion.

Any other attempt to draft law outside these two sources is invalid and illogical.

Constitutions cannot be considered the law of society.

A constitution is fundamentally a (man-made) positive law, and lacks the natural source from which it must derive its justification.

The problem of freedom in the modern age is that constitutions have become the law of societies.

These constitutions are based solely on the premises of the instruments of dictatorial rule prevailing in the world today, ranging from the individual to the party.

Proof of this are the differences existing in various constitutions, although human freedom is one and the same.*

The reason for the differences is the variation in the assumptions and values implicit in diverse instruments of government.

This is how freedom becomes vulnerable under contemporary forms of government.

A specific modality of government dominates the people through the constitution. The people are compelled to accept it by virtue of the laws derived from that constitution, which is itself the product of the tendencies within particular instruments of governments.

The laws of the dictatorial instruments of government have replaced the natural laws, i.e., positive law has replaced natural law.

Consequently, ethical standards have become confused. The human being is essentially, physically and emotionally, the same everywhere.

Because of this fact, natural laws are applicable to all. However, constitutions as conventional laws do not perceive human beings equally. This view has no justification, except for the fact that it reflects the will of the instrument of government, be it an individual, an assembly, a class or a party.

That is why constitutions change when an alteration in the instruments of government takes place, indicating that a constitution is not natural law but reflects the drive of the instrument of government to serve its own purpose.

The abrogation of natural laws from human societies and their replacement by conventional laws is the fundamental danger that threatens freedom. Any ruling system must be made subservient to natural laws, not the reverse.

The fundamental law of society must not be subject to historical drafting or composition.

Its importance lies in being the decisive criterion in light of which truth and falsehood, right and wrong, and individual rights and duties can be judged.

Freedom is threatened unless society adheres to a sacred law with established rules that are not subject to alteration or change by any instrument of government.

The government should adhere to the laws of society.

Unfortunately, people the world over are currently ruled by manmade laws that can be changed or abrogated, depending upon the struggle for power among competing forms of government. Conducting plebiscites on constitutions is often insufficient.

Plebiscites are essentially a counterfeit of democracy since a “yes” or “no” is the only option. Moreover, under man-made law, people are compelled to vote on these plebiscites.

Conducting a plebiscite on a constitution does not necessarily make the constitution the law of society. In other words, the status of a constitution will not be altered by a plebiscite; it will remain no more than the subject of a plebiscite.

The law of society is an eternal human heritage that does not belong only to the living. Therefore, drafting a constitution or conducting a plebiscite on it is a mockery.

The catalogues of man-made laws emanating from manmade constitutions are fraught with physical penalties directed against human beings, while tradition contains few such measures. Tradition lays down moral, non-physical penalties that conform to the intrinsic nature of humanity.

Religion contains tradition and absorbs it; and tradition is a manifestation of the natural life of people. Its teachings comprise basic social guidelines and answers to the fundamental questions of existence.

Most physical penalties are deferred to a future judgment.

This is the most appropriate law affording due respect to the human being. Religion does not provide for prompt penalties, save in certain compelling instances necessary to the well-being of society.

Religion contains tradition, and tradition is an expression of the natural life of the people. Therefore, religion is an affirmation of natural laws which are discerned therein. Laws which are not premised on religion and tradition are merely an invention by man to be used against his fellow man. Consequently, such laws are invalid because they do not emanate from the natural source of tradition and religion.